France Help IDing French Commander

[Jef]

Hello friends,

Recently this medal found its way into my collection. So far i wasn't able to find any information. On Ebay I saw a knight's class, in this way i know the medal needs a green ribbon with a tiny french tricolor on both sides. Was wondering if any of you guys could give me more info. Above the medallion i can read " Oeuvre Humanitaire "

with kind regards from Flanders,

Jef

[JBFloyd]

Unofficial "order" for humanitarian service. The French seem to create these with great regularity, and copy the design of the Legion d'Honneur as closely as possible.

[Jef]

Unofficial "order" for humanitarian service. The French seem to create these with great regularity, and copy the design of the Legion d'Honneur as closely as possible.

Thank you for your reply, Jeff. So I guess the order was established by a humanitarian organisation and given to military and civilian people for humanitarian acts?

with kind regards,

Jef

[Veteran]

Hello Jef

Jeff Floyd's post is very accurate. I would like to add a comment to the information he offers : these "private orders" and "decorations" have no official significance. In fact, they are purely the inside products of "mutual admiration societies" or worse (send so much for "chancery expenses" and you will get a "commander's badge") type of thing.

French law forbids public wear of such material. They are absolute make-believe. Serious collectors like to know about them in order to stay clear.

Some collectors like to gather such material. Why not indeed ?

But please be clearly aware of what they are.

Regards

Veteran

[Jef]

Hello Jef

Jeff Floyd's post is very accurate. I would like to add a comment to the information he offers : these "private orders" and "decorations" have no official significance. In fact, they are purely the inside products of "mutual admiration societies" or worse (send so much for "chancery expenses" and you will get a "commander's badge") type of thing.

French law forbids public wear of such material. They are absolute make-believe. Serious collectors like to know about them in order to stay clear.

Some collectors like to gather such material. Why not indeed ?

But please be clearly aware of what they are.

Regards

Veteran

Thank you for your wise words, Veteran. You wrote :"the French law forbids public wear of such material". In the first place nobody is allowed to wear orders, medals which are not your own. I believe in Belgium there is a penal legislation for this. But if someone should wear a non-official medal in France, do you think there is a chance he will be punished?

For example: every veteran organisation in Belgium has (a lot of) medals, non-official medals. Is this the same in France? And are those French veteran medals tolerated?

Again thank you for your help,

Jef

[Veteran]

Hello Jef

I fully agree that unofficial veteran medals are a matter of their own. They range from medals awarded by cities to the troups who liberated or defended them (i.e. M?dailles de Verdun, Dunkerque, Trois Cit?s) to commemorative medals issued by veteran groups having fought in the same areas (M?daille de la Somme, Ypres, etc..). Those are "tolerated" when worn on the occasion of veteran meetings and ceremonies, such as November 11. But they are in no case allowed on a military uniform during active service.

The make-believe "orders and decorations", especially if they mimic the Legion of honor or use ribbons normally given with an official award of the Nation are absolutly banned.... Some people get away with them, but few really try to wear them during public functions or when government or military authorities are present. The wear has to be outrageous to be prosecuted, but potentially it is possible.

In fact, one wonders when they are worn at all, except privately or during private functions.... but then you can also dress as an archbishop in your home if you so please.

I hope I have answered your question. This being said, as I wrote in my previous message, since they exist why not collect them if they appeal to your taste. This is still a free world.

Cheers

Veteran

[Ed_Haynes]

What an unbelievable piece of sad ego-inflating garbage. (I cleaned up that post.)

[Jef]

Hello Jef

I fully agree that unofficial veteran medals are a matter of their own. They range from medals awarded by cities to the troups who liberated or defended them (i.e. M?dailles de Verdun, Dunkerque, Trois Cit?s) to commemorative medals issued by veteran groups having fought in the same areas (M?daille de la Somme, Ypres, etc..). Those are "tolerated" when worn on the occasion of veteran meetings and ceremonies, such as November 11. But they are in no case allowed on a military uniform during active service.

The make-believe "orders and decorations", especially if they mimic the Legion of honor or use ribbons normally given with an official award of the Nation are absolutly banned.... Some people get away with them, but few really try to wear them during public functions or when government or military authorities are present. The wear has to be outrageous to be prosecuted, but potentially it is possible.

In fact, one wonders when they are worn at all, except privately or during private functions.... but then you can also dress as an archbishop in your home if you so please.

I hope I have answered your question. This being said, as I wrote in my previous message, since they exist why not collect them if they appeal to your taste. This is still a free world.

Cheers

Veteran

Thank you for your answer, veteran. By chance, today I received the last bulletin of MEDEC with an article about wearing of non -official medals. It explains a lot.

kind regards,

Jef

[Ulsterman]

What is MEDEC? Would you be so kind as to summarize the article?

Thanks-

[Jef]

What is MEDEC? Would you be so kind as to summarize the article?

Thanks-

Hello Ulsterman,

Medec is a selected group of Belgian Order and medalcollectors. Please see http://users.skynet.be/medec for info. Sorry it's written in Dutch and French. The article in the bulletin is written in Dutch ( my own language) by Loek Jansens, a specialist non official Belgian medals. The main thing in the article is : medals which are not instituted by the government are not allowed to be worn in public ( just like Veteran told). The article is written in parts and I'm looking forward to read the next issue within a few month's. There is not much info about (Belgian)non-official medals available in literature. And that's one of the reasons why i got member of Medec. It's bulletin gives interesting information. Hope you like their website.

With kind regards,

Jef